Ronda Rousey Defends Title, Sends Strong Message to Cyborg

UFC 170 ended with a splash Saturday night, with Ronda Rousey finishing Sarah McMann with a brutal knee to the liver that sent her fellow competitor to the floor; her third title defense in the UFC. The women’s main event was the quickest women’s finish to date in the UFC in their short history in the organization. Ronda has now added another strong finish to her nine win resume, her first finish without the patented arm bar submission move she has used in every one of her fights until now. The match up included two Olympic medalists facing off against one another; with another Olympian, Daniel Cormier, winning his co main event fight on UFC 170.

#1 Contender, Cat Zingano

Rousey’s main event did not come without some drama of its own after the finish. The arena erupted in boos after fans thought there had been a premature stoppage to the fight. The argument could have been based off the fact after a few seconds of being downed by Ronda’s knee to the liver, McMann was slowly standing her way back up. The referee, Herb Dean, thought he saw enough damage had been done and awarded Rousey the stoppage. Many thought Sarah’s wrestling style and Olympic background posed the biggest challenge to the champion, instead it became a part of history for all the wrong reasons on Sarah’s behalf. The media had a few specific questions for Ronda after the event, one of them included her response to Cyborg’s statement from the night before.

Cris Cyborg

Rousey made her comments quite simple, but yet very clear. “She knows where I’m at, I’m not going anywhere.” Ronda responded on the post fight interview in response to Cris Cyborg’s comments on Friday. She admitted the fights intrigues her but once again has not budged on what weight the fight needs to be held at. Ronda also noted that she feels the number one contender, Cat Zingano, should still rightfully get her shot at the title as well. Cat Zingano suffered an unfortunate ACL injury before the latest Ultimate Fighter reality series, where she was supposed to coach opposite of Ronda Rousey. The president of the UFC, Dana White also chimed in on the possibility of a Cyborg fight in the UFC. The president sounded somewhat optimistic. Saying he wanted to see Cyborg take a couple fights at her new weight before they discuss the possibility of a potential fight between the two. Ronda has discussed defending her title sometime later in the summer, giving the champ a little time off after back to back fights within a month of each other. Rousey reiterated though, she would fight for Dana on 24 hours notice if the president need her to.

The women’s division has become one of the hottest buys in the UFC as of late, partially to the character that is their UFC women’s champ. Ronda brings a strong edge of confidence to go along with brash attitude that appeals to fans all over the world. No matter the results of the fight earlier, for any fan that had hoped for the Rousey versus Cyborg sometime in the near future; they needed ‘Rowdy’ Ronda to defend her title. Cyborg predicts December, Ronda does not have a set date; but the strong dislike for each other will hopefully soon move forward from verbal jabs to physical confrontation; women style in the UFC.